Manufacture of furs



L. NIERENBERG MANUFACTURE OF FURS Sept. 27, 1949.

Filed Jan. 51, 1949 FIG. 2.

JNVENTOR LOUIS NIERENBERG BY fl/ i ATTORNEY Sept. 27, 1949. L. NIERENBERG 1 MANUFACTURE OF FURS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 31, 1949 INVENTOR. LOUIS NIERENBERG ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 27, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MANUFACTURE OF 'FURS Louis Nierenberg, Brooklyn, N. '32.

Application January 31, 1949, Serial No. 73,678

5 Claims. (CL 6922-) This invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of fur garments and related articles; and in particular is directed to: (1) a novel method of .cutting the skins, (2) novel forms of lengthened skins, and (3-) garments or articles manufactured from such novel forms of lengthened skins.

Skins of animals such as squirrels, weasels, Japanese minks, Chinese minks, kolinskys, fitch, bassarick, ermine, percheniki, sable and the like, are widely used in the manufacture .of fur garments and fur articles.

The fur of the skins of the foregoing animals is not uniform in length or texture. The fur of the rump portion extending forwardly along the grutzen is generally coarser, longer and much heavier than the fur on the rest of the pelt. Such coarser-haired portion is generally triangular in shape. The apex thereof is positioned on the line of the spine or grutzen, as it is called in the trade;

the sides of such triangle extending rearwardly and outwardly, continuing along the inner sides of the hind legs.

The methods heretofore used in cutting and let-'- ting out such a skin comprise, a rearwardly extending diagonal cut from each side of the pelt to the center thereof at the tail, thus producing a pointed rear end with a substantial part of the coarser-haired rump and lower grutzen portion left intact.

The portions of the skin so severed are then sewn to the pointed end at a lower position on the diagonal lines thereof. The skins so let'out, when assembled in a plate .or garment in which the skins are joined in rump on head formation, result in a plate or garment revealing the presence of the individual skins. assemblage the heavier, longer and coarser hairs of the rump portion stand out in sharp .contrast to the shorter, finer-textured hairs of the adjacent skin below the rump. Such a garment or 5 .7

plate, accordingly, is marked, on the fur side, by transverse lines or bands which clearly reveal where the component skins have been sewn to gether, thus resulting in a plate or garment of uneven texture and unattractive appearance.

I have discovered that it is possible to cut the 1 skins in a novel fashion so that a garment or plate assembled, therefrom will be devoid of the transverse markings which so seriously impair the beauty of a garment or plate made by the .old

methcd. Furthermore, in addition to the enhanced beauty of a plate so made, my novel method of cutting results also in a very substantial reduction in the amount of sewing required to assemble the garment .or plate as well as in astonishing reduction in the number of skins necessary to produce the same. In the prior method of cutting or letting-out of the skins, it was believed that the furrier had achieved the maximum let-out .of the skins, but my method makes it possible greatly to minimize the number of skins entailed in forming a garment or plate. Additionally, my method of handling the skins results. in enhanced durability of garments made therefrom.

Accordingly, it is among the objects of this invention to provide a new method of cutting skins, whereby great economies may be achieved by reducing the amount of sewing necessary to .assemble a garment or plate.

Another object of my invention is drastically to reduce the number of skins used in the manufacture of a garment or plate.

Another object of thisfinvention is to provide a garment or plate of strikingly improved beauty 5' S il In such an Another object of this invention is to increase and improve the. durability of a garment or plate made from such. skins.

The foregoing objects and advantages, as well other objects and advantages of this invention, will become apparent from the following more detailed description thereof taken in connection ri'th the accompanying drawings wherein- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a squirrel skin as seen from the fur side thereof.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the skin illustrated in Fig. 1 after being cut in accordance with my novel method.

3 is a plan view of the skin shown in Fig. 2 after the same has been stretched or lengthened and sewn as seen from the leather side.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the lengthened skin illustrated in Fig. 3 as seen from the for side.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a fragmentary portion of a plate assembled from a number of skins (reduced in size) illustrated in Fig. 4, as seen from the fur side.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the fragmentary portion of the plate illustrated in Fig. 5 as seen from the leather side.

Referring now to the drawings, the numeral If! designates a dressed skin of a squirrel. The fur of the rump extending forwardly along the grutzen, in a portion of generally triangular configuration designated by the numeral l2,'is heavier, longer and coarser than the rest of the fur designated by the numeral [4. The portion 12, extends from apex Hi, to points l8 and 20. Such skin is trimmed, with the fur cutters knife, so as to remove but the necessary minimum of the uneven marginal edge of the skin, thereby leaving the head portion symmetrically shaped, either rounded as shown at 22, or pointed if desired, and the arcuately shaped sides 24 and 26, flaring away rearwardly to the extremities of the hind legs or paws. The skin is then cut from the apex l6, rearwardly and outwardly along curvilinear lines 28 and 30, so as to excise or remove the portion l2, thus leaving the body portion of the skin 32, with two outwardly extending, pointed rear legs or paws 34 and 36. The paws 34 and 36 are then pulled or stretched downwardly so that the lines 28 and 3!] are brought together and then stitched or sewn to form the seam 38, thereby transforming the paws into an artificial grutzen and elongating the grutzen by about 1%; inches. When the skin has thus been lengthened out and stitched, it presents the appearance, as seen from the leather side, illustrated in Fig. 3 and on the fur side the appearance illustrated in Fig. 4.

It will be noted that the fur side of this skin exhibits a smooth, fine, uniformly textured pelt. The skin has a nice length and an even width, a rounded head and an inwardly rounded rump matching the arc of the head. As thus shaped the skins may be fitted lengthwise in rump-onhead formation evenly into each other so that they may be joined together by stitching or sewing as illustrated in Fig. 6. In that illustration the strips 40, 42, 44 and 46, are laterally stitched to each other by the seams 48, 50 and 52. The strip iii. is assembled by sewing the rump of skin (iii to the head of the adjacent skin 62, as shown by the seam 64. Then the rump of the skin 62 is sewn to the head of the skin 66 adjacent, as shown by the seam 58. As thus assembled, the plate as seen from the fur side has the appearance shown in Fig. 5. It presents a parallel series of long, graceful, uniformly textured pelts.

As has been stated before, the head of the skin and rump thereof may be pointed in shape instead of the arcuate form illustrated. In such case the pointed ends extend forwardly on the line of the grutzen so that the skins may likewise be fitted to each other lengthwise in rump-on-head formation.

It will be noted that a skin cut in accordance with my novel method requires but a single seam of relatively short length in order to achieve the requisite lengthening. This novel method of lengthening the skin eliminates a very substan-. tial portion of the sewing or stitching ordinarily required to let out a skin by the methods heretofore used. I have found that I am able to make a fur garment by my method of cutting from but 4 164 skins as contrasted with a garment of similar size which required the use of 183 skins when assembled by the conventional method of cutting.

It also will be noted that my novel method of cutting the skin and forming a garment or plate provides very substantial economies through the drastic reduction in the amount of labor entailed in such operation. The drastic reduction in the number of skins required to form a garment or plate by the use of my novel method results from the fact that I have drastically reduced the amount of stitching required. The skin of an animal, as for example a squirrel, is of relatively short dimension, large proportions of the available area of the skin ordinarily being consumed in the sewing operation. By my novel method, however, the amount of sewing required is drastically reduced as a result of which a far greater amount of the valuable surface of the skin is made available for the formation of a garment or plate.

Additionally, it will be observed that my novel method of cutting the skins enables me to produce a garment or fur article made from animals of the type described, of strikingly enhanced beauty. Furthermore, my novel method of cutting the skins results in their assemblage to form a garment of markedl increased durability, since the stitching is kept at the barest minimum and the lengthening is eifectuated in the line of the grutzen so that tension on the skins is confined in the natural direction.

It will be understood that the foregoing embodiments are but illustrative of the manner of accomplishing this invention and, accordingly, the appended claims are to be understood as defining the invention within the full spirit and scope thereof.

I claim:

1. Method of cutting and lengthening a dressed fur skin of the class wherein the fur in the region of the rump and lower part of the grutzen is of coarser and heavier texture than the fur on the rest of the skin which comprises: excising said portion of heavier and coarser fur, trimming the skin along the lateral edges from one hind paw to, and around the head and back to the second hind paw, and joining the inner edges of said paws by stitching the same from the point on the grutzen of the excised portion to a point whereby the outer edges of the skins are brought into substantially parallel alignment with each other.

2. Method of cutting and lengthening a dressed fur skin of the class wherein the fur in the region of the rump and lower part of the grutzen is of coarser and heavier texture than the fur on the rest of the skin which comprises: excising said portion of heavier and coarser fur, trimming the skin along the lateral edges from one hind paw to, and around the head and back to the second hind paw, stretching the paws thereafter, and joining the inner edges of said paws by stitching the same from the point on the grutzen of the excised portion to a point whereby the outer edges of the skin are brought into substantially parallel alignment with each other.

3. A plate comprising a plurality of assembled fur sections made of fur skins, each section comprising only fine texture fur, with those portions of the hind paws which are of fine texture fur and surrounding a removed coarse fur section, being stitched together along the medial line.

4. A plate comprising a plurality of assembled fur sections made from skins, each section comprising only fine texture fur, with those portions of the hind paws which are of fine texture fur and surrounding a removed coarse fur section, being stitched together along the medial line, whereby the length of the medial line is increased, said sections having substantially parallel sides.

5. A plate comprising a plurality of assembled fur sections made from skins, each section comprising only fine texture fur, with those portions of the hind paws which are of fine texture fur and surrounding a removed coarse fur section being stitched together along the medial line, whereby the length of the medial line is increased, said sections having substantially parallel sides, the sections being assembled in rump-on-head formation.

LOUIS NIERENBERG.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date 7 Rinfret Feb. 24, 1920 Number 

